Grace Jones - Hurricane (2008) POLL

A bit early for polling this, no?

Haha, nope.

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

I like this album, but I don't think it's perfect, the middle part is kinda meh both musically and lyrically. "I'm Crying" is a bit too smooth and MOR in a way most other Grace Jones ballads (including the other ones on this album) are not. "Well Well Well" is a nice but forgettable filler track, the sort of stuff Grace and Sly & Robbie could do in their dreams; also, I don't think its reggae vibe fits well with the rest of the album. "Hurricane" is okay I guess, it's exactly what you'd expect from a Grace Jones/Tricky collaboration, but nothing more really. Thankfully the album gets better towards the end, "Love You to Life" and "Sunrise Sunset" are the sort of cool, melodramatic ballads Grace is great at, and "Devil in My Life" is gorgeous and sublime.

Having said all that, I don't think there's any doubt that "Williams' Blood" is the best tune here both musically and lyrically. It's easily among her top 5 songs ever. When I first listened to the album, the part where the buzzing synth kicks in and Grace sings "I've got the Williams' blood in me!" made my skin shiver. I can't simply think of a better ode to nonconformism and personal freedom than this song.

Also, something I didn't realize until recently is the strings on "Williams' Blood" actually resemble the strings on Kate Bush's Aerial album

please try not to ruin the song with such comparisons

album is quite good but "album of the year easily" is absurd, there's loads of better albums. "best album by somebody who was popular in the 80s," ok maybe.

she'll have to fight that one with the Cure

yeah but people only like Cure albums now out of a sense of duty, the Grace Jones album is actually good

I was one of those people who was willing to like this album just because it was the first Grace Jones album since 1989, but yeah, it is actually quite good whether or not you've waited for years for it. I agree that it's not the album of the year, but it's still a pretty awesome comeback from a 60-year old most people had probably written off as an 80's has-been.

And it's even more impressive considering it was done by a 60-year old woman. I think most female vocalists in their sixties are expected by the record companies to release albums of standards or smooth jazz or something, certainly not tunes as aggressive and provocative as "Corporate Cannibal" or "This Is".

album is quite good but "album of the year easily" is absurd, there's loads of better albums. "best album by somebody who was popular in the 80s," ok maybe.

i saw your Plan B review which seemed to suggest you'd be rating it higher than this! oh well

i think 'corporate cannibal' is sort of terrible, grace playing up a bit too much to her omgz scary!!!111 media persona, but the rest of the album is great (even if the production is a bit late-90s) - agree that 'williams blood' stands head and shoulders above the others.

I'm quite sure Hurricane won't make it into various end-of-the-year Top 20/40 lists (even though it probably deserves to be there), because Grace isn't considered "cool" or "relevant" anymore.

After some very superficial listening, my fave is "Devil in my Life"

"Devil in My Life" is probably my second fave on the album... There's a trip hoppish feel to it, in fact to most of the tunes on Hurricane, but since some of Grace's early 80's tunes (especially "I've Seen That Face Before") sound kinda like proto-trip hop, I have no problem with her reclaiming that sound.

well trip-hop is next in line for hipster comeback i think

i saw your Plan B review which seemed to suggest you'd be rating it higher than this! oh well

No I do rate it quite highly, I think it's possibly the most impressive "comeback" album I've ever heard - precisely because it doesn't sound like a comeback album or trade in nostalgia. I am ribbing Bimble because he spots an album an extra ten points if it's by somebody who made good records in the eighties, and yeah, it's a terrific album but there are still ten or twenty better ones that don't get the "I loved you when we were all younger" rating upgrade

people only like Cure albums now out of a sense of duty

you realize we are now officially in a fight

LOL that took you long enough :)

well excuuuuuuse me for letting my WoW addiction trump my ILX addiction

album is quite good but "album of the year easily" is absurd, there's loads of better albums. "best album by somebody who was popular in the 80s," ok maybe.

Axl should've called her up for a duet.

I'm quite sure Hurricane won't make it into various end-of-the-year Top 20/40 lists (even though it probably deserves to be there), because Grace isn't considered "cool" or "relevant" anymore.

disagree w/ all of this, I've heard a lot of buzz about this record
Aeroplane remixed a track off it
DJs have been all over the Nightclubbing LP for the last few years, Tim Sweeney used a Grace Jones track on his RVNG mix

etc.

Well John, I'm tempted to argue with you about your whole anti-nostalgia kick, but the fact is I find the extremity of your position so bizarre that I have a feeling arguing wouldn't really illuminate matters. The new Cure album is a good starting point, though. I don't agree with Dan's favourable opinion of it, but by the same token I don't think he likes it out of some sense of "duty". I don't give Hurricane any bonus points for being by an artist who made good records in the 80's because the fact is I didn't even own those records. Grace is not an artist I've ever had any particular appreciation for outside of the song "Slave To The Rhythm". So to me this doesn't really feel like nostalgia so much as an album that just happens to be by someone who's name/face I recognize.

I think when you look at your Plan B review vs. what you've posted here, it begins to seem as though rather than me giving the album bonus points due to her 80's records, you are actually doing the reverse - subtracting points because of it! :)

I think when you look at your Plan B review vs. what you've posted here, it begins to seem as though rather than me giving the album bonus points due to her 80's records, you are actually doing the reverse - subtracting points because of it! :)

Yes that is exactly how I am! If somebody is an iconoclast and lives to see their iconoclasm absorbed by the mainstream (true of so many of these 80s acts: when they were new, they could fairly say that they were either the only ones working their own particular corners, or part of a vanguard), to me they have to not just deliver, but excel when they come back. It's why new Cure albums annoy me so bad. When the Cure were at their peak, absolutely no-one was capable of doing what they did - they were in a class all by themselves. Today (I am about to get killed for this; leave my vinyl collection to the ilxor who wants it most) the Killers do a better Cure than the Cure. That being the case, a new Cure album should either 1) shock and amaze or 2) not exist ("la beauté sera CONVULSIVE ou ne sera plus") - if it sounds like the Cure I know, then to Hell with it, I already have those Cure albums

In fairness to myself I feel the same way about the metal bands I treasure - pack it in if you're not changing. I know I open the floor to people saying "you as a musical act have been around since '91" but my critical hat is different from my career hat.

goo post J0hn, although wrt the Cure, I feel their last album succeeds precisely because it doesn't sound like any of their past albums (altho I'm ready to admit that I'm obsessive enough to exaggerate tiny differences in Cure albums)

I'm not sure if I agree with you point, John, because that would mean that if an artist once gets branded an "iconoclast", then you should always expect new, shocking, and amazing thing from her, even decades after her debut. Just because Grace Jones was once considered an iconoclast doesn't mean she should keep on shocking and amazing us in new ways year after year after year. First of all, it would be kinda unrealistic and unfair to expect that from an artist with a 30+ year career. Second, that would mean that a particular artist has only one set of qualities a listener can get pleasure from, instead of the listener getting different (but equal) pleasure from different phases of an artist's career. If I want to hear shocking and earth-shattering music I'll probably turn to newer artists, but that doesn't mean I can't get similar joy from hearing an artist do the "same old thing", especially if there aren't too many other people around doing that thing anyway, and it's been over 10 years since even she did that thing.

yeah, I mean, in theory I agree with you - take the death metal bands I love so much. once they were changing the world: no one had ever heard that sort of music! now they are a dime a dozen, but why shouldn't the masters enjoy the spoils of victory? and indeed I am loving Krisiun's Southern Storms tonight. Still, I want to hear evidence that an artist isn't satisfied with themselves - that they hope their new one beats all the classics in their catalog. I hear that in the new Grace Jones, and that's why I reviewed it as favorably as I did. I share your willingness to enjoy bands doing "what they're already good at," but when it's bands who were big when I was young, I tend to demand more. This is obviously a personal peccadillo, but I think as personal tics go, it has a decent point.

now they are a dime a dozen, but why shouldn't the masters enjoy the spoils of victory?

I'm trying to figure out exactly what you mean by this.

that's not clear? an innovator becomes less distinguished as his innovation becomes commonplace - it seems fair to say "don't sweat the innovator for continuing to ply his trade now that there's a bigger market for it"

but at the same time, continuing to pretend that the originator is special in any current way (vs. in an historical sense) seems aesthetically dishonest - loving our 80s bands is non-different from boomers championing Creedence

Alright, well, John D. I get where your coming from, and I agree in a way, but I also see it as somewhat idealistic. Does music still hold the same possibilities for innovation that it did in the 80's?

Another small problem: production values have changed considerably. Things just simply SOUND different. Just that alone is hard for me to get past sometimes, though occaisionally a new band does come along that seems to be produced in a way I like (god, this band from San Diego called The Muslims are amazing). I won't sit here and be an apologist for loving my 80's music and continuing to do so. If that's what you expect of me, well, you expect too much. Remember you're the one who posted about a Cabaret Voltaire 1982 gig recently - which I found shocking. Surely we shouldn't listen to anything from the 80's anymore right, John? Heheh. :)

Does music still hold the same possibilities for innovation that it did in the 80's?

emphatically yes. it is never the case that there were more possibilities for innovation in an earlier age. it often seems that way to us, because when we were younger, everything was new, but that was because we were younger. my whole life's mission as a listener is to fight the "things were better when I was younger" mindset tooth & nail.

within genre, constriction often takes place, but within a whole field (music/lit/art) it's not like we're running out of space or anything - the space for play is always infinite.

I agree that production trends over the past fifteen years have been unfortunate but there are still people out there doing good work.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

LOL a whopping 4 votes!!!!